The show will be an opportunity for Dairygold Food Ingredients to display its high quality dairy commodities and its premium dairy-based flavour ingredients, marketed under the “taste Discovering Flavour” brand.

Dairygold Food Ingredients’ Dairy Essentials range includes cheddar cheese, butter, milk powders, milk proteins and 90% demineralised whey powder. They are produced in the company’s BRC accredited world class manufacturing facilities, with milk sourced only from its members’ grass-fed cattle.

The firm’s “taste Discovering Flavour” ingredients are made in France where Dairygold Food Ingredients has built a reputation for innovation in tailored cheese ingredient solutions for the food manufacturing sector, focusing on processed cheese and cheese/dairy-based flavour ingredients in powder form.

The “taste Discovering Flavour” portfolio includes cheese powders, cheese blends, specialty dairy powders and cheese/dairy flavours. Manufactured from carefully selected ingredients, they are designed to boost flavour or replace cheese/dairy in a wide variety of savoury and sweet applications such as snacks, ready meals, processed cheese, sauces, dips, confectionery and bakery.

Established over a decade ago, Gulfood is the world’s largest annual food and hospitality show. In 2011, the exhibition brought together 55,000 visitors and 3,800 companies wishing to grow their business in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Therefore, Dairygold Food Ingredients hopes the 2012 show will be as successful as the previous one and expects it to be an opportunity to strengthen its relationships with the region’s food manufacturers, with a view to building long-term partnerships.

If you wish to set a meeting with the Dairygold Food Ingredients team on the show, please contact: sales@dairygoldfoodingredients.com.

Dairygold began trading with China ten years ago in 2001. Over the intervening period sales have grown considerably involving - Demineralised Whey Powders, Whey Protein Concentrates (WPC’s) and Specialised Milk Powders, which are mostly used in Infant formula products.

Dairygold Chief Executive Jim Woulfe confirmed;

“Dairygold’s main focus within China is the infant milk formula sector, the scale and growth potential of which is enormous. The market, valued at $1.5 billion and with 16 million babies born each year,(expected to peak in 2019)  is showing average compound growth over the last six years of 14% per annum. Surprisingly given the average income, infant milk formula actually costs more in the Chinese supermarket than the equivalent does in the Irish supermarket. The visit was an important step in building and expanding on current corporate relationships between the Co-op and its Chinese partners and to explore further opportunities for Dairygold in the Chinese market.”

Dairygold has cultivated strong links with key players in the Chinese Infant Milk Formula sector at both a commercial and technical level. The Co-op operates in partnership with a local trading agent the Beijing based Milky Way Corporation, which has excellent expertise in the food sector in China. Through its local agent, Dairygold can facilitate efficient importation of product and continuous commercial and technical support to customers.

Mr Woulfe explained;

“The Chinese market is growing at a phenomenal rate and the population shift to the cities where disposable income is running at up to three and a half times the rural equivalent. More importantly, it is estimated that per capita dairy produce consumption increases from 3kg per person in rural areas up to 26kg per annum in the cities with even higher figures in the tier one cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu.”

The Board was invited guests at a special dinner hosted at the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square hosted by the China Dairy Association.

Matt joined DFI in 2006 as a Business Development Manager and has demonstrated a strong customer focus, determination to succeed and excellent sales skills.

In his new role, he will develop the Industrial sales team and the customer base, with the aim of increasing market share, delivering innovation and profitability within this sector of the business. DFI currently supplies and services all the major food manufacturers in the country.

Helen Pomfret, HR Business Partner, commented: “Following a rigorous selection
process, Matt demonstrated a deep understanding of his customer base and the
commercial activities needed to drive both sales and margin in this highly competitive
sector. He is passionate about customer service and ensures he can deliver everything
the customer wants and needs.”

Matt said: “I’m very excited about the new role and will be taking more responsibility for forward-planning and strategy. It’s a challenging time, due to the volatility of commodity prices, but there is some great product innovation taking place at our excellent manufacturing bases in the UK and Ireland, so I’m looking forward to introducing the new products to customers”.

DFI has fused its long history of cheese-making with technical expertise to perfect its broad range of cheese powders, marketed under the ‘Taste… Discovering Flavour ™’ brand.

DFI’s versatile range of cheese powders  can be used to enhance cheese taste in a long list of products including breads and pastries, soups and sauces, ready meals, pizza, crisps, biscuits, dips, canned food and baby food.

Commenting on her appointment, Cherie said: “Part of my brief is to develop cheese powders and soft cheeses, growing sales and finding new sales areas.

“Cheese powders are an exciting growth product for DFI. They’re manufactured in our French production site from natural cheese and dairy ingredients, and deliver the characteristic flavour of cheese in a versatile and user-friendly format.

“Specific opportunities for cheese powder include snacks, bakery, ready meals, sauces and flavouring blends, so keeping up to date with these markets is also an important part of my role.  

“My day-to-day tasks include working with customers to select the ideal product for their application from our range of high quality cheese powders. This could be a French goats cheese powder for a premium snack line, or a mature Cheddar powder to provide a cheesy note in bread. Each of our customers has their own unique requirements, which keeps my job interesting!”

Cherie spent the three years prior to her DFI appointment working for multi-national dairy company Fonterra in Hamburg, Germany, as an applications technologist, showing customers how to use Fonterra’s dairy-based products.

Prior to that she spent four years in her homeland working in production development.

Away from the hurly-burly of the cheese manufacturing industry, Cherie’s hobbies include outdoor pursuits including hiking, skiing and cycling. 

Three of Dairygold’s cheeses were given Gold awards by a panel of expert judges from the dairy industry. These were Dairygold’s Grated Mature Cheddar, which scooped the prestigious Bradbury & Son Award for the second year running, Irish Mature Cheddar, which won the Guy Smith Trophy for Best Single Mature Cheddar, and Grated Red Leicester.

Dairygold also picked up Bronze for a ‘Display of Cheese on a Cheese Board’. The Extra Mature Cheddar was ‘Very Highly Recommended’, as was the Gran Alto.

Now in its 114th year, this year’s competition was greater than ever, attracting over 3,700 entrants from 26 countries.

Richard Paul, Show Chairman, said: “We had 3,700 entries in all, which is a record, and the standard across the board was extremely high – our panel of 150 judges really did have their work cut out to make their selections”.

Dairygold Food Ingredients UK Ltd’s Sales & Marketing Director, Terry Cunningham said: “We’re absolutely delighted with the results at Nantwich. They are testimony to our heritage, hard work and the dedication that goes into our cheese making. We’re also particularly proud of winning the Bradbury & Son Award again this year, as it shows that the quality of our cheeses is consistently good and they always taste great.”

“We pride ourselves on manufacturing from the finest natural ingredients, using generations of cheesemaking craft and expertise to provide the very best products for our customers. While Dairygold is well-known as a major dairy ingredients supplier, we will continue to innovate with our active NPD work to meet future taste and flavour preferences.”

The success follows last year’s event, when Dairygold won five awards.